Overland with Kids

How the Children are Feeling

Jessica says

“It’s horrible ………….. I love it!”

AJ says “Can we buy a dog now and why do we have to do homework? - we’re already seeing the world!”.

As per Lithuania, there were no border controls on arrival to either Latvia or Estonia which made crossing into both countries nice and hassle-free.

Latvia

Latvia looked alot rougher on arrival compared to pristine Lithuania - rougher roads, unkempt and untidy sidings plus small wooden houses that looked a bit worse for wear. But, initial looks proved to be deceiving as this kept improving the further we headed in toward the capital and all became fine again. Latvia is flat and covered by over 50% of forest area, with several beaches and national park areas. There are very tall thin forest pines everywhere and the houses are all mainly wooden, especially throughout the countryside - very similar to Lithuania in this respect. We drove through the outskirts of Riga, paid a road tax of one kroon for entry and settled for the night at a campsite in Jurmala National Park - an area with beautifully huge wooden mansions along it’s streets, all situated in a huge national forest area with plenty of activities and a 33km stretch of blue flag sandy white beach. The huge wooden houses here are architectural treasures which have been commissioned mainly by the rich over the years, many open to the public. Although we didn’t go and have a better look ourselves, the area is definately worth investigating by bike or walking. 

We were soon to discover just how incredibly busy the area of Jurmala was. The weather was boiling hot, it was the weekend and it seemed like the whole of Latvia had descended on the place. The campsite we found called Nemo Camping resembled Picadilly Circus and the toilets and shower facilities weren’t great. Mossies were everywhere and the kitchen facilities were pretty much non-existent. All in all, it wasn’t for us but for something like 14 Euros per night for all of us we couldn’t complain - great value for money really.

We were after somewhere to shower and wash comfortably, have some fun and peace and chill with the children before our onslaught to Russia and we weren’t that far now from the border in the scheme of things. Taking a decision to head out of Jurmala, we could see the huge lanes of traffic coming in the other direction and all at a standstill - we were glad we moved out.

After getting a bit lost, our route took us through the centre of Riga for a better peek and all looked very beautiful and interesting but we didn’t stop, except to visit McDonald’s where we saw a bride preparing to be married in the car park by having a last minute cigarette. Inside McDonalds we saw spiderman (a groom out on his stag do). Driving on and further inland for about 50 minutes, we reached a little town called Sigulda which is situated in Guaja National Park. Once inside further, we were able to set-up camp by the Guaja river banks - perfect - especially as the small wash facilities nearby at Makars Kayaking hut were simple but clean and there was a little kitchen area too. More important, we started to realise there were plenty of activities around and about which we knew would be a great for all of us.

After a rest, a swim and some digging of moats in the small sand beach on the banks the first day, we hired bikes the next and headed for a 5km ride to ancient Turaida Castle which is set in 42-hectares of beautiful grounds complete with small lakes, caves, walks and a beautiful sculpture park. Right by us was Sigulda town itself where we rode our bikes through and had a rest in the Walking Stick Park (Latvia is famous for it’s walking sticks). Then, it was back to our campsite at the end of the day to investigate Sigulda’s Adventure Park more commonly known as Tarzan’s - an adventure forest you can climb through using ropes, assault courses and ladders at differing capability levels or have a go on a bicycle by high tightrope. There is also a bungee jump from a cable car over the Guaja River, hot air balloon rides, an aerodrome and plenty or canoeing, kayaking and water rafting opportunites. Given our time, we decided on the small chair lifts to take us up a large hill to return our hire bikes and then came whizzing down again by some small, fun, electric bobsleighs. Anne had a go on the catapult - a device that throws you in the air at great speed by bungee ropes while the children filmed and got a great laugh at mum screaming her head off for the whole of Guaja to hear (dad was too much of a woose to try!!!!). Elvis also had a go (the second groom of the week we saw out celebrating his stag do). We finished our time before leaving the following day with all of us having a go on the professional bobsleigh luge track where a professional driver took us round the course using soft bobs with wheels (in winter it is ice but summer only soft ground). We whizzed through the luge track at 80km per hour around the curves - very fast and exhilerating -  the children loved the crazy speeds and had to have two go’s. Peace and funtimes over, we continued onto Estonia.

Estonia

We drove the route up the huge coastline west of Latvia to find it full of pretty and quiet, deserted beaches with plenty of free camping opportunties over-looking over the Black Sea. We stopped before the border at a cute little place called Salacgriva which is known for specialist fishing techniqes, resting and saunas and found a place to eat next door to the information office called Kambize. Here we experienced the best meal of our trip so far with the most enormous portions, delicious chips & deserts with coffee - and all at very good prices. We had to waddle back to the car afterwards and heave our bellies in. If your ever in the area - go to Kambize - it is exccellent!!!!!

We headed for Tallin to be disappointed by the city campsite which was nothing more than a hard-standing tarmac car park. We thought the children wouldn’t really appreciate the concrete and go a bit crazy. The hardstanding area would suit campervans of which we saw many, but it wasn’t for us. As much as we wanted to see Tallin, we decided this would have to wait for another time and decided to move on. We met a couple of cyclists later while staying in Laheema who told us that they had stayed at the campsite during their visit but it was just a tiny patch of grass - they too had wanted to move on but they were too knackered from having cycled miles that day to be able to take their legs any further. Before leaving Tallin, we spotted signs for another campsite but couldn’t be bothered - we’d already made up our minds to travel on.

Along the north coast, in the rough direction of Narva border we found Laheema National Park with a place called Eesti Camping situated about 1km from a pretty wooden style filled village of Vosu. Here, we were comfortable, able to get some much needed clothes washing done and enjoy a tiny private piece hidden among tall rushes - heaven! The beach here was so shallow and calm that the children could go very far out with the water still only up to their ankles (like they were walking on water!). From here we could see Vosu’s beach area we could have walked to but it looked busy, we were too lazy and we liked it just where we were.

Storks, Rapeseed Fields, Flowers, Mosquitos, signs for Narva & St Petersburg and Other Things

We mention storks because while we saw them by the bucket load throughout Bulgaria, they have also been rife throughout our travels in Lithunia, Latvia and parts of Estonia - we keep forgetting to mention and also never seem to get a decent photograph as we always only ever see them when we are driving. We saw rapeseed fields in Estonia - the first we have seen in ages - probably since leaving the UK we think. There was an abundance of flowers everywhere in the Ukraine - since then, we haven’t really seen such large, proud cultivations again unless we are visiting sites of interest. Mosquitos continue to be the bane of our lives and we have gathered quite a collection of all kinds of dead insects splatted nicely across our window screen - some orange bellied and some blood red - ugh! Batting them with hands and books etc. when they get inside the vehicle has become a daily sport between us. Along the motorway from Tallin onwards there are plenty of signs for Narva & St Petersburg. We also saw a sign-post by the river and camp area in Guaja, Latvia. Since being in the Baltics we have seen campervans and campsites everywhere - summertime is here and it’s starting to get busy - we’re glad to be enjoying the summer weather and surrounds but glad to be exiting the summer invasion.  English is widely spoken everywhere so we have had no problems conversing. Most restaurants have English translation on menus. The only shame has being not being able to practise any of the languages, especially for the children’s benefit as we pass through (but they’ll get their time again once we reach Russia). Latvia is wooden house heaven.

Diary (Blog)